Rwandan government has demobilized about 25,000 former fighters from different groups involved in the 1994 genocide and plans to discharge 20,000 more from the current Rwandan Defense Forces by 2007, an official told reporters Friday.

"Since 1994, 200 former Rwandan Armed Forces have been reintegrated into the regular army while 25,000 soldiers who served in the defeated forces were discharged," Jean Sayizonga the chairman of the national demobilization and reintegration commission said.

He revealed that, plans are underway to discharge 20,000 soldiers from the current Rwandan Defense Forces by 2007.

The World Bank provided 53 million U.S. dollars to the Rwandan government to finance this project.

Sayinzoga said that the commission had released accompanying allowance to assist in the social reintegration of all the categories of demobilized former fighters.

The commission pays 1,000 dollars to each demobilized army officer, while a private gets 250 dollars for services rendered to the nation.

Most of the demobilized soldiers were drawn from the Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda based in eastern Congo following the flight of Hutu extremists to eastern Congo after their involvement in the Rwandan genocide.

Source: Xinhua